Doom Movie Update

As a result of the recent events surrounding the Doom movie, MegaGames has been informed of an online petition designed to bring awareness to the producers of the DooM Movie that the DooM community is not at all happy with the supposed changes. In that respect, the letter by Dave Callaham, DooM movie scriptwriter, published yesterday served more as a confirmation of those changes rather than as any form of an attempt to appease fans.

The petition has already managed to gather almost 2000 signatures and fans seem to be determined to do whatever is possible to get their message through. If you wish to sign or view the petition follow the download tab above. For those of you who are not certain about what all the noise is about, below is a list of possible DooM movie changes as listed by the petition.

a)Taking place on an unknown planet. (ie: No Mars) What was so hard about the location of this movie? Doom takes place on Mars, yet the movie does not. As far as movie sets go, one planet looks the same as the other, so there’s simply no excuse to leave this out.

b) Having nothing to do with Hell, instead having the monsters and zombies origin being the result of a virus. This completely undermines the point of the game entirely, the Doom pivotal plot point is that Hell invades, without it the movie is not Doom and can’t even pretend to be Doom. Rather it’s just a rehash of a tired sci-fi cliche with the Doom name for a title. If we wanted to see a simple horror-sci-fi movie, we’d watch Event Horizon.

c) Supposedly involving S.W.A.T. Team members instead of Space Marines. As stated before, something so simple as what the name of the uniformed soldiers in the movie didn’t even try hold continuity. There’s no reason or purpose to change Space Marines, which is Doom’s staple, to something different. It’s just bad taste and bad scripting.

d) Having no UAC (Union Aerospace Commission) involved in the movie. Though unconfirmed, this would be another key element of the Doom saga left out.

e) Several minor issues, such as the BFG (Big F***ing Gun) now renamed to Bio Force Gun. As well as all the great DooM Hellspawn such as the Pinky Demon, the Baron of Hell and several others being played by Human characters, and given uncreative names like “Pinky” and “Goat” and “Baron.” This is not only uncreative, but rather creating a movie without the Doom plotline and letting it stand “as-is”, this movie makes deliberate nods and references to the game, like it’s trying so hard to be true to the game, but falls short because the plot has nothing to do with the game at all. Why even bother calling the personnel by gimmicky little nicknames so we can tell what they’ll mutate to? Again, just bad scripting and character casting.

Well? What the fuck are you waiting for? Sign that fucking petition! No?

Well maybe this snivelling scriptwriters’ open letter to the fans will change your minds.

Open Letter to Doom Fans

Dear Doom Fans:

Sometime in the last week or two, there was quite an uproar over a quote I allegedly made regarding my bravado in completely disfiguring the plot of the Doom games when I went about writing the screenplay for the film. First and foremost, allow me to state that I never made that quote. The reporting news source reported that I made that quote during an open press visit to the Doom set in Prague, during a week in which I was in fact in Los Angeles. Additionally, I want to add that I would never under any circumstances address either the press or the Doom fans with anything resembling the snide elitism that I perceive that quote to connote. In these regards, I consider the journalism involved to be nothing less than shoddy and irresponsible.

That said.

The screenplay I wrote DOES differ in a number of ways from the games. I want to be very honest and forthcoming in saying that, and I know that I won’t make any friends amongst the fans of the game in doing so. But it should be mentioned that it was never the goal of anyone involved in this film, from myself and the producers to the studio to the guys at id, to make a direct film adaptation of the game(s). The thought process has always been to create an extension of the Doom universe that will give fans an interesting new take on the themes that they’ve come to enjoy in the game. Because let’s be honest here: as far as a completely immersive and cinematic experience, we were never going to top Doom 3 anyway, and we all knew that. Instead, we have toyed with some elements of the game, and yes, I am pretty much solely responsible for that, since it was my pitch and my screenplay that got made. Let me assure you, though, that the themes and elements that you love about Doom are ALL represented strongly in the film…just with some new twists.

I’ve found it frustrating that I somehow became the goat for the perceived shortcomings of the film, because (and I say this with no humility whatsoever, because I’m not a humble person), that I am, without a doubt, the greatest ally the Doom fan has had during the entire process of the film being made. I am the only person involved creatively who has ever made any attempt to open discourse with the game’s internet fanbase, and I am the only person involved who has continually kept the ideals of the game first and foremost in mind. I very truthfully believe that my unapologetic and hyper-violent script would have been a Doom fan’s movie dream come true. However, since my involvement, the film has steadily moved away from the realm of fandom and more toward the realm of traditional Hollywood interests. It’s not been ideal, in my opinion, but I did what I could when I could, and I stand by that work.

No film adaptation can ever match the expectations of the original fans, and the Doom movie will be no different. You as fans each have your own perfect version of the Doom film already shot in your head, and those versions aren’t always what the guy next to you would want to see in the same movie (someone out there on doomworld.com sure loved the idea of Howie Long as Doomguy — which is perfect aesthetically, but let’s face it, totally absurd if you want this movie to come out in theatres). I myself have a perfect version of the Doom movie all played out in my head–I even wrote it down–and it’s not getting made either. And I’m not always real happy about it, but I do understand that that is the nature of the Hollywood machine. The bottom line is there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of good people working their asses off on this movie right now, and you, just like me, have to trust them to do the best job they can. I don’t enjoy watching a bunch of strangers bastardize my baby any more than you do, but really none of us can do anything about it at this point, so I hope that at least some of you will fret, with me, in the direction of optimism. We all have high expectations, and a lot of them won’t be met, but the bottom line is the movie is going to be pretty cool.

Finally, to the fan that suggested I get an enema (ostensibly to clean out my head, I think): That was awesome.